Thursday, August 21, 2008

Speed Stands Fast at Bristol

Speed again showed his ability to adapt and react to whatever is thrown at him — this time it was the notoriously nasty bullring in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. He captured his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole and finished third in the O’Reilly 200.

“I had a ton of fun out there,” said Speed, racing the No. 22 Red Bull Toyota for the first time since June at Michigan. “This is definitely my new favorite short track, for sure. (Crew chief) Doug Wolcott and the BDR guys are awesome, and I can’t wait to get back in this thing at Vegas.”

Speed remained calm throughout a frustrating and hectic race, battling up front with veterans such as race winner Kyle Busch, second-place Todd Bodine and teammate Johnny Benson. Rarely was Speed out of the top five.

“The racing was a lot more difficult than driving in qualifying,” Speed said. “I saved a lot in the middle knowing we had to be good in the end. At the end, I think we had the best truck out there.”

In nine truck starts, Speed has one win, three top fives and five top 10s. His next scheduled start comes Sept. 20 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

3rd Red Bull team in 2009? Between now and the end of the 2008 season, Scott Speed likely will make his Sprint Cup debut. Red Bull Racing will probably employ its test team – which includes veteran Cup crew chief Richard “Slugger” Labbe — for a third car for Speed, said team Vice President and General Manager Jay Frye said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Red Bull is still deciding whether or not to run two or three full-time cars next season, or two full- and one part-time cars, and whether it will retain AJ Allmendinger in its #84 Toyota. Speed, who has a chance to win the ARCA RE/MAX Series title this year, has been exceptionally impressive transitioning to stock cars, while Allmendinger has shown huge improvement since the start of the season. Frye said he hopes to have 2008 plans finalized in October.

I think they'd be smart to let Scott attempt a couple races this year and a handful next year along with a full time N'wide or Truck schedule. But keep his Cup starts down so that he can run for ROTY in 2010 with a full time 3rd team. I don't think they'll be able to do full time next year without a sponsor, and sponsors are hard to come by right at the moment.

I think it was Red Bull themselves that said they would not sponsor a third car - that they would have to get another sponsor. I don't have a firm quote on that anywhere, but think I remember something along those lines. I'm guessing it costs way more for a Cup sponsorship than ARCA or Truck.

I'm not too worried about AJ. It looks like they are thinking 3 cars next year, even if one is part time. Which leads me to believe that Scott at least won't be replacing AJ. And I don't think they could find anyone else who would represent them better than AJ. He personifies Red Bull so well.

Anyone else think it's ironic that Schrader is starting right on the inside of AJ today? Especially after this quote from AJ.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to Bristol. It's a cool track, and a crazy tough race. I made my first NASCAR Cup start there, so as long as I can avoid Schrader on my inside... we should be good!"

Oh yea I remember. They didn't pit after the final caution and went to 2nd and then ran out of fuel on the final lap.. yea.. rocked it.

But seriously, BV has to step up at the short tracks. It seems like he always finds speed in his car when it's too late and that's why I never look forward to short track races. I don't know what the deal is. Now we're probably going to hear "We finished 20th with a 30th place car" like we always do.

it was stated after the race by bv that he had a top 5 car. bad pit stops is what put them in that poss. a car that was alittle off on the handling keep it there. lets all jump ont this band waggon of putting the team down. wow what kind of fan are u

It really doesn’t mean anything when a driver says his car was a top 5 car when they come in 20th. It is what it is. Look at practice, his car sucked. He didn’t qualify well and yes the first pit stop was bad. But the car never did anything until the end and even then he could only catch cars but couldn’t pass. His pit crew rallied and actually picked up a couple spots towards the end. It’s like Curt said, short tracks need improvement. But look at the bright side…he finished the race and only losing 17 points (added to the 166) It could have been much worst. Now on to Calif. They need to put a fast car out there like Michigan and we’ll be singing a different tune.

Stop complaining about Vickers finish. 20th place is not that bad. He also only lost 17 points in the Chase! Oh yeah and curt, if BV wasnt good at short tracks how about last year at the first Bristol race? 15th with burns on his body. And remember on friday in the Nationwide race, he finished 8th. i think his first Busch win was at Dover, which is a short track. Also like anon said, he had a top five car at the end of the race and some of them were faster than the leader!

I just feel sorry for AJ though. top 8 run and ruined by the 1 car (Martin Truex Jr.). he was about to get back in the top 35. If it wasnt for that big wreck he would of finished 42nd or 43rd. But instead he finished 34th. Thats 24 points better! Hey, at least he got to see Carl Edwards spin out Kyle Busch on the cool down lap!

He was very complimentary of the pit crew and their stops too. They are all working hard out there and in it together but its great the way they all stayed up beat about the whole thing. Figures he was the only car around truex when his tire blew. I felt so bad for him. He had a fast car even after being crashed. After one of the restarts he driven past everyone all the way up to 12 place. Oh well - on to the next one. At least by getting out there he stays in touch with 35th. Great effort to all of the 84 team!

I've been following BV since 2003 so I know for a fact that he's not good at short tracks. He has admit it before. BV's stats on short track shows him as a mediocre driver. He has a few top 10's but no top 5's yet.

I don't understand why some people are still comparing BV to the guys around 35th in points. I would understand that if this was the 6th race of the season but they're better than that now. Sure it's a remarkable improvement but they're at a higher stage now and 15 teams are beating them in points. That's their current competition.

I'm not bashing on Brian or the team. I just want my favorite driver to make a breakthrough on the short track some day. A champion needs to be good on every type of track on the circuit. BV had that in 2003.

But let's look at the bright side. The #83 team has 4 DNF's this season so far. If it weren't for those DNF's, they would be comfortably in the Chase and with possible a win at Charlotte.